WEAR BEHAVIOR OF CERVICAL FUSION PLATES FABRICATED FROM POLYETHYLENE REINFORCED BY KEVLAR AND CARBON FIBERS

The cervical spine plays an essential role in limiting the physiological ranges of motion in the neck. However, traumatic loading such as that experienced in automotive crash and other scenarios can lead to ligament damage and result in neck injury. The objective of the present study is to investigate the wear behavior of cervical fusion plates fabricated from polyethylene reinforced by kevlar and carbon fibers as alternative of anterior cervical disk fusion arthroplasty. Cervical artificial plates made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) reinforced by carbon fibers (CF) and kevlar fibers (KF) were tested using reciprocating wear machine. It was found that the tested composites free of reinforcing fibers showed relatively higher wear values compared to composites reinforced by CF or KF. As the volume content of the tested fibers increased, wear decreased. Besides, composites reinforced by KF offered lower wear values than that caused by composites reinforced by CF. It seems that improvement in wear may be attributed to the strengthening effect of the tested fibers, where they withstand the shear and tensile stresses inside the matrix of the composites.